The present disclosure generally relates to a nutritional product. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed to ready to drink (“RTD”) beverages comprising a low calorie content.
Consumers are often looking for health conscious beverages with less calories without compromising the taste and texture. In addition, consumers are looking for enhanced mouthfeel, also denoted as richness, texture or creaminess, of the beverages. Thus, many RTD beverages are transitioning from high fat and high sugar versions to versions with less fat and less sugar to limit the calories in the beverage. However, fat and sugar reduction results in a less pleasing mouthfeel of the beverages. Thus by reducing fat in the recipe, the described creaminess is partially lost, which is perceived as watery, thin, weak, diluted and low quality by consumers.
Therefore, there is a need for a solution that provides an enhanced mouthfeel of low fat and low sugar RTD beverages so that the consumer has an increased perception of the texture of the beverage.
At the same time, when improving texture perception of low fat and reduced sugar RTD beverages, the long shelf life stability of the beverage cannot be compromised. Reduction in beverage calories requires reduction of fat and/or sugar. However, fat and/or sugar reduction results in a loss of texture/mouthfeel of the beverages. In order to increase beverage texture perception there is a need of solution(s) that allows enhancing texture/mouthfeel of low fat/low sugar RTD beverages.
Such stability is challenging because ingredients added to the beverage to improve mouthfeel typically cause a deterioration of the product quality, such as undesirable increase of product viscosity and phase separation, e.g. gelation, syneresis, layering, creaming and/or sedimentation.
US20030215546 relates to edible emulsion comprising live micro-organisms. US20070128331 relates to emulgating agent from cereal grains. DE102007057258 discloses a process for preparing a oil-on-water emulsion useful for the production of bio-foods, preferably bio-beverage, comprises a flavoring oil phase containing bound polysaccharide, and an aqueous protein containing phase. JP2008167723 relates to a method for producing the liquid seasoning containing the sesame, an aqueous phase and an oil phase includes mixing the sesame with other raw materials after pulverizing the sesame in the oil phase. WO02051262 relates to process for producing water and fat-containing food. U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,192 relates to hydratable powders which form emulsions.
Prior art references use essential oils, such as thyme oil, that are much more soluble in water than triglycerides. In Reference Khalid Ziani, Yuhua Chang, Lynne McLandsborough, and David Julian McClements, J. Agric. Food Chem. 2011, 59, 6247-6255, it is mentioned that Thyme oil (Tymol) has a relatively high solubility in water (1 g/L), whereas in Noriaki Funasaki, Sakae Hada, Keizo Suzuki; Chem. Pharm. Bull 1976, 24 (4) 731-735 it is mentioned that Triglycerides are almost not soluble in water: solubility 10-6M-10-8M; i.e, solubility is less lower than 8.9 10-5 g/L, i.e. much lower than the essential oils.
The majority of existing solutions with indulgent mouthfeel have high calorie. There are limited solutions for low fat (non-fat)/low sugar shelf stable RTD beverages which have texture/mouthfeel similar to that of high fat/high sugar beverages. On the other hand, some existing, low calories versions are lacking in indulgent, thick, creamy texture. On the other hand, additives are usually added to modulate the mouthfeel of products, especially in the low fat variants. Specific formulations are sold as “mouthfeel flavor” ingredients, but their sensory impact is limited. Some of these ingredients used are hydrocolloids such as starch, xanthan or carrageenan or other hydrocolloids to increase the viscosity of the beverage. However, the introduced change of texture cannot mimic or even replace the creaminess perception offered by lipids. Often a jelly-like texture is perceived as artificial or chemical by the consumer. Many additives suffer additionally from poor water solubility. Therefore, the amount of additive that can be introduced into a low fat beverage composition is limited in order not to hamper reconstitution or the homogeneity of the RTD product.
Therefore, there is a need for low calories RTD beverages that have creamy, thick texture/mouthfeel but without compromising physical stability and taste profile during shelf-life.